Tag: Billy Price

Zac Taylor isn’t giving up on Billy Price

Zac Taylor still has confidence in Billy Price.

The Cincinnati Bengals added another offensive lineman Friday by claiming Isaiah Prince on waivers, which seems to create more questions than answers.

One of those big questions for the unit continues to be Billy Price, the 2018 first-round pick who will again sit out this weekend in favor of rookie Michael Jordan at left guard.

But head coach Zac Taylor says the Bengals aren’t giving up on Price but also again stressed draft positioning doesn’t mean anything.

“None of that stuff plays into anything,” Taylor said, according to Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com. “We’re looking to play the guys that give us the best chance and certainly we have a lot of confidence in Billy.”

While true Price has been dealing with a nagging back issue that he gritted through a few weeks back when Alex Redmond got hurt during warmups, it’s hard not to get a sense the first-round product isn’t in a good spot.

After failing to win the starting job at center Price also lost the gig at left guard to Jordan back when the season started. He had a different nagging issue then too. When he’s presumably been healthy this year, he hasn’t had a notable impact.

An ironman of a draft prospect with a limited ceiling, the Bengals were going for a sure thing when they drafted Price. With all this continued talk about draft slotting not factoring into playing time decisions (which is a refreshing change for the team), it’s easy to envision the Bengals seeking out more consistent options this offseason

Price might factor into the long-term plans still, but his developmental track is spotty at best after ducking in and out of the lineup so many times.

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Billy Price again fell out of Bengals starting lineup with an injury

Billy Price can’t stay on the field for the Bengals.

The Cincinnati Bengals won a game to avoid the fate of 0-16 but otherwise remain largely in evaluation mode.

It’s about the future and the 2020 draft now. During this sort of stretch, the idea is to get as many young players possible meaningful snaps to spur development and better reveal where the team needs to hit needs in free agency and the draft.

But from the sounds of it the Bengals won’t get this chance with 2018 first-round pick Billy Price.

Price missed last week’s win with back soreness, which gave rookie Michael Jordan the start. And based on what head coach Zac Taylor told the media, more of the same could be on the way.

“That’s something we’ll continue to evaluate every week. He’s a young player that we think has great potential. He just needs to continue to get reps. Billy (G/C Billy Price) has been fighting a little bit of a back (injury). We’ll continue to see how that develops over the course of the week. We’ll make some decisions as the weeks goes as to what we want to do there.”

Price has technically suited up for 12 games this year but has hardly appeared after a preseason of reportedly battling plantar fasciitis. He couldn’t win the job at center, then lost out to the rookie Jordan at left guard.

Just two weeks ago, Price wasn’t going to start at all at left guard until Alex Redmond suffered a season-ending injury during warmups. For those who know Redmond’s career trajectory, this is a big red flag for Price.

In an ideal scenario, Price suits up and plays in the final four games. But right now things continue to trend in an incredibly wrong direction for the Bengals given the cost of the investment.

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